by Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Sports

by Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Sports

DETROIT -- During his entire flight to Detroit, Oakland Athletics reliever Pat Neshek questioned whether he was making the right decision. But when he saw his teammates on the bus heading to Comerica Park, he knew this is where he belonged.

Neshek and his wife, Stephanee, celebrated the birth of their first child on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, they were making plans to bury their son. Gehrig John Neshek died about 23 hours after his birth.

"I don't think we'll ever get over it,'' Neshek said, his voice cracking and he tried to hold back tears. "It's tough. We had the baby and put a lot of pictures up (on Facebook and Twitter). Then, you get a call and they're asking where you want to bury your son. It's hard to process any of it."

Neshek left the team on Monday night to be with his wife for the birth in Melbourne, Fla. Everything seemed normal. The baby was healthy. Neshek left the hospital and went home to watch the A's play their eventual American League West Division-clinching game against Texas on TV.

He got a phone call in the fifth inning from Stephanee. The baby had stopped breathing.

They spent the night together crying, but no one knew, and they still were getting text messages and e-mails from friends and fans congratulating them on the birth.

"That was really hard; we sat up all night,'' Neshek said. "We didn't know what to do. People were sending us texts of congratulations and stuff. That really hurt, getting that stuff.''

So Neshek went to his Facebook and Twitter accounts and broke the horrible news.

"Please pray for my family. Tonight my wife & I lost our first & only son 23 hours after he was born with no explanation," Neshek posted on Twitter. Stephanee later added, "There was no cause of death and I am having trouble understanding why God can let such a thing happen to an innocent being."

There will be an autopsy, Neshek said, but no matter what the findings, it won't bring back their son.

"I remember other people would have babies, and I thought, 'Ah, not that big of a deal,''' Neshek said. "But that's probably the best day I ever had. The one day. I'd go through it again just for that one day.

"It was pretty awesome.''

It will take time to heal, and as Neshek said, the pain will never go away. Yet, for now, he and Stephanee know they made the right choice to come to Detroit and rejoin the team for the American League Division Series playoffs beginning Saturday against the Detroit Tigers. They are with friends and family who can help them during the painful healing process.

"It was a great decision; my wife recommended it,'' Neshek said. "I was fine with whatever she wanted. But the first thing she said was, 'I need to get out of here and some baseball.' I just wanted to be by her side to get through this.

"This is really good for me. It really takes your mind off a lot of the bad stuff that happened. It's a very good way of healing, putting the pieces back together.

"It's tough, but I've been getting a lot of support from the guys and other players around baseball, guys I played with, fans of baseball, and that's really helped us.

"If nothing else, you kind of wanted to do it in my son's honor, to come back."